


Alternative Justice

by orphan_account



Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Fix-It, Friendship, Gen, Gender-Neutral Hawke (Dragon Age), hawke isn't an asshole for once
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-17
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2020-10-20 19:49:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20680958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Anders agonizes over the impending annulment. Fortunately, he has a friend he trusts enough to let in on his thought process.





	Alternative Justice

**Author's Note:**

> In a better world where Anders was written by someone who didn’t hate him, we could have helped him make peace with Justice prior to his Act 3 quest, resulting in them living more harmoniously together. If we were also at 100 friendship with Anders at that point and decidedly pro-mage, he would also let us in on his thought process pre-Chantry boom and let us help more directly.

The door to Anders’ clinic creaked as it opened. The normally busy clinic was empty save for the healer, who sat on one of the cots with his head in his hands.

“Is something the matter?” Hawke gingerly sat down on the cot, letting one hand brush against Anders’ knee. This wasn’t like him. Even on the worst days, Anders could be seen smiling and cracking jokes as he tended his patients.

“You heard what they said earlier in the Gallows,” was Anders’ hollow reply. “It doesn’t matter what we do. Probable cause or not, Meredith has already sent for the Right.” He looked up, finally meeting his friend’s eyes. “You saw the mages she had us hunt down. Emile de Launcet - he wasn’t even a real blood mage!”

“The others were,” Hawke gently reminded him.

Anders sighed. The whole blood magic thing was clearly still a sore spot. He no longer slighted all blood mages, but if what he’d said about Justice and the Baroness was anything to go by, making peace with the spirit had rather complicated his relationship with the field.

“That doesn’t matter,” he said eventually. “Meredith grouped Emile de Launcet - a harmless fool - with Huon and Evelina. The truth doesn’t matter to her. She will find an excuse, no matter how false.”

Hawke thought back to what Malcolm had said, forever ago. “A Knight-Commander needs the approval of either the Divine or the Grand Cleric to carry out an annulment. Surely neither of them would approve without concrete evidence of corruption?”

Anders laughed bitterly. “You heard what Sister Nightingale said. The unrest is so bad here that the Divine is considering an Exalted March. An Exalted March!” He glanced at the ceiling, then turned to face Hawke again. “And what does our most beloved Grand Cleric ever say? ‘I feel for the mages, blah blah, the Knight-Commander is doing everything she can to keep order.’ She’s clay in Meredith’s hands. Meredith could instigate a second war with the Qunari and Elthina would find some way to justify it.”

Hawke nodded thoughtfully. Elthina  _ had _ promoted Petrice to the rank of Revered Mother even as she’d instigated the war with the Qunari. “Meredith is crazy, I agree,” Hawke finally said. “If anyone should see that, it’s Elthina. Why she hasn’t relieved her of duty yet, I can’t imagine.”

“She’s spineless,” Anders muttered. “She’s meant to be Meredith’s superior, but doesn’t do anything to keep her in check. She’s just as much a part of the problem as Meredith is.”

Anders had brought his hands down, letting them rest against the mattress. Hawke reached out and took one, rubbing a thumb against the back of his hand.

“I just…” Anders whispered, closing his eyes. “I just wish there was something I could do. Every moment I’m not working or fighting, all I can think of is how tomorrow, without warning, all the mages in the Gallows could be dead, when I could have stopped it from happening.”

That did sound dire. “Is there anything you’re thinking of doing?” Hawke asked.

“What  _ can _ I do?” Anders despaired. “I’ve snuck mages out of the Gallows before, but only a few at a time. There’s no way I’ll be able to sneak out the whole Circle, especially not when most of them don’t even know an Annulment is coming. And even if I  _ did _ somehow, the Chantry would just track them down again.”

Hawke thought for a moment. “I know a few assassins. If it would help at all, I could call in a favor with one of them.”

“To do what? Assassinate Meredith?” Anders cringed. “Assuming the assassin could even get past her guards, what good would that do? You see the templars, you hear the way they talk - whoever succeeds Meredith will be just as bloodthirsty as she is.”

Hawke smiled at the prospect of killing more templars. “Then we take out her successor. And so on, until the Knight-Commander is sympathetic.”

Anders gave a half-smile. “Much as I like the idea of having assassins take out most of the Templar Order, that is not only unrealistic, but it’ll take time we don’t have. Not to mention how quickly the Order will jump to blaming the assassinations on mages somehow.”

“You’re right,” said Hawke. “How about this? I have contacts among the nobility. Orsino provided me the names of nobles who have family in the Circle. If I convinced them to petition the Grand Cleric, I could get her to put her foot down?”

Anders laughed, empty of mirth. “What do you think I’ve been doing for the past six years?” He gestured at the writing desk in the corner, which was littered with scraps of paper and rough drafts of the manifesto.

Hawke sighed. “Fair enough. I concede your point.”

“The problem,” Anders continued, “is that we don’t have a lot of time and not many people know - or are willing to be aware of - the reality of the situation. There’s no way to keep the Right from being declared, not with Meredith and her templars blaming every change in the wind patterns on blood magic. However, even if-  _ when _ \- the Right is declared, there could still be a way to save the mages, but for that to happen, they would have to be aware of what’s going on and be able to fight back.”

“And we should be there to help them,” supplied Hawke.

Anders nodded, the smile returning to his lips. “As it stands, Meredith only needs an excuse to appeal to the Grand Cleric. But if she declared the Right in front of someone who could then rally the mages, they would still have a fighting chance. The problem then being that the Chantry still has the means to track them down and kill them one by one.” The blond’s shoulders slumped as he visibly deflated.

Hawke patted him on the back awkwardly, unsure of what to say. “What are you thinking?”

Anders took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “Whatever provokes Meredith into declaring the Right,” he said, “has to be something that destabilizes the Chantry, or at least directs its resources away from tracking down mages. It has to be public, and something that legally isn’t an actual reason to annul a Circle, so nobody can claim she had a good reason. And when it happens, it has to be in front of not only her, but Orsino as well.” He opened his eyes, gazing forlornly at Hawke. “The Circle can’t be blamed for what happens.”

_ Please don’t tell me… _ “Does anyone have to be blamed?” Hawke ventured.

“If anything is unclear about what happens, Meredith will find some way to blame it on the Circle,” said Anders. “There can be no ambiguity as to who did it. It must be entirely on my head.”

Tears began welling up in Hawke’s eyes. “But you will be executed,” came the choked reply. “I can’t let that happen.”

“My death will not mean my failure,” Anders whispered. He pulled Hawke close to his chest, feeling the tears stain his shirt. “If word gets out of what happened, what  _ really _ happened, who knows what this could mean? Not just for the mages here, but everywhere. But for that to happen, this can’t be hushed up. It must be public.”

After a minute or two of sobbing into Anders’ shirt, Hawke sat up and met his eyes once again. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“I fear what may happen if I involve you too much,” Anders choked out, blinking back a few tears himself, “but I will need your help.”

“I’ll do anything to protect the mages,” said Hawke. “And that includes you. I’ll help you, but don’t expect me to turn around and let you martyr yourself.”

“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of,” Anders sighed. “Trust me when I say it would be best if you weren’t publicly involved. I only need your help with a few simple tasks.”

**Author's Note:**

> And then they gathered the materials and Hawke distracted the Grand Cleric just like in-game, the only difference being that Hawke had a bit more of an idea what was going to happen and what could have happened otherwise.


End file.
